50 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON IN MURDER

Man, 20, sentenced in shooting death

A man convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting of a motorcyclist in Southcrest two years ago was sentenced Friday to 50 years to life in prison.

Jovan Garcia, 20, also was ordered by San Diego Superior Court Judge Joan Weber to pay about $6,000 in restitution to the family of Jesus Hernandez-Leal for burial expenses.

Deputy District Attorney Chris Lindberg read statements in court from Hernandez-Leal’s mother and wife, who described their grief over his death.

“They ended the life of Jesus without cause, and the people did not think about the pain they caused,” Lindberg read from a letter by the wife, Claudia Garcia Coria, who is now living in Mexico. “Please, now, I’m only asking they get a fair punishment because if they did it once, they’ll do it again.”

On March 13, 2011, Hernandez-Leal and a relative were taking turns riding a mini-motorcycle up and down Boston Avenue when Garcia walked up and shot Hernandez-Leal five times.

Lindberg said Garcia told San Diego police, in a videotaped interview after the shooting, that Hernandez-Leal tried to run him down in a Home Depot parking lot earlier that day, and had attacked his girlfriend in a park on a different occasion. The girlfriend testified in Garcia’s trial that Hernandez-Leal was not her attacker.

A jury found Garcia guilty of murder. Co-defendant, Cesar Swain, 27, was sentenced in April to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, inducing a person to give police false information, and gun-use and gang allegations. Lindberg said Swain drove Garcia away after the shooting.